Seminarium Fizyki Politechniki Wrocławskiej
PWr, bud. A1, sala 322
Superconductivity in High-Entropy Materials: Current Research Status and Perspectives
dr hab. Rafał Idczak, prof. UWr
Uniwersytet Wrocławski
High-entropy alloys (HEAs) are an innovative class of materials that have attracted significant attention in recent years due to their remarkable physical and chemical properties. Unlike traditional alloys, which are typically based on one dominant element with the addition of several others, HEAs consist of at least five principal components in comparable molar proportions. Despite their complex chemical composition, they exhibit a simple crystallographic structure (i.e. body-centered cubic (bcc) or face-centered cubic (fcc)), without the presence of additional intermetallic phases [1,2].
From the perspective of superconductivity, HEAs are exceptionally interesting both for fundamental research and potential technological applications [3,4]. Notably, their structural disorder does not suppress superconductivity, as is often the case in conventional materials. On the contrary, some HEAs exhibit superconductivity with surprisingly high critical parameters such as critical temperature, upper critical field, or critical current density. Another advantage is the ability to precisely tune their physical properties through chemical composition modification. By changing the proportions of elements or introducing new ones, one can influence critical parameters and transport characteristics. This makes HEAs an excellent platform for studying the effects of disorder, conduction-band electronic structure, and electron–phonon interactions on superconductivity. It is also worth noting that superconducting HEAs, combining bulk superconductivity with exceptional mechanical properties, including high strength, thermal stability, and resistance to fracture at cryogenic temperatures, are emerging today as promising candidates for structural materials in next-generation superconducting magnets [5–8].
[1] J.-W. Yeh, et al., Adv. Eng. Mater. 6 (2004) 299.[2] B. Cantor, et al., Mater. Sci. Eng.: A 375-377 (2004) 213.
[3] P. Koželj, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 113 (2014) 107001.
[4] L. Sun, R. J. Cava, Phys. Rev. Mater. 3 (2019) 090301.
[5] P. Sobota, et al., Phys. Rev. B 106 (2022) 184512.
[6] P. Sobota, et al., Acta Materialia 285 (2025) 120666.
[7] R. Idczak, et al., Phys. Rev. B 112 (2025) 014513.
[8] W. Nowak, et al., Acta Materialia 301 (2025) 121519.
